Designed to Die (2023)

More and more people in our society nowadays prefer cremation, which means that urns occupy a significant place in our funeral culture. However, the design possibilities of an urn are often not fully exploited, and they often seem incidental to a funeral. Nevertheless, it is of great importance to bereaved families that they perceive the burial of their loved one as beautiful, and urns play an important role in this. The last memory of a deceased person should not be carelessly designed, but should leave a present impression, celebrating the life of the deceased person.

The created urn from the work Designed to Die picks up on the importance of an urn burial for relatives as well as for the deceased person. It shows how important it is to give a loved one a proper burial and illustrates that the urn plays the central role in this process. The urn is made of pure soy wax, and is divided into two parts. The inner part holds the ashes and stands in the center of the outer part, which is placed on a ring over the urn's grave. Flowers are placed decoratively around the inner part. The candles placed on the outside contain up to four wicks and are first lit over the urn grave. Within 45 minutes, they burn down to the point where the urn no longer has a hold on the ring and falls into the urn grave. To ensure this, the wicks from the candles in the bottom of the outer section are arranged in a circle around the urn inside. Unlike traditional urn burials, the funeral service is now held directly at the grave next to the urn, rather than in the funeral hall. The procedure creates a new type of burial and gives the bereaved the opportunity to bury their loved ones appropriately and keep them in good memory.